Railway tie



Feb. 5, 19279. i 1,701,442

N. F. cRABlLL RAILWAY TIE Filed Dec. 23, 1927 gnvantoz /vaAf/ f-GRAB/LL.

Patented F eb. 5, A1 929.

UNITED STATES4 PATENroFFici-J.

NOAH F. CRABILL, or BRUNSWICK, MARYLAND.

RAILWAY TIE.

Application filed December 23, 1927. SerialrNo. 242,076.

Tliisinvention relates to improvements in railway ties and moreparticularly to ties of composite molded structure.

1t has been heretofore proposed to employ,

pulled loose, in time, or the vibration to which such devices and theties are subjected, through the vibration of the rails in the passage ofrolling stock thereover, results in a cracking or disintegration of thetie body and a loosening of the securing means, or the tie" lbody isrendered incapable of properly supporting the rails. Therefore thepresent iiivention `has as its primary object to provide a composite tiecomprising a bodyof cement or other similar material, capable of being.

molded to the required form, and novel means whereby the rails, disposedupon the tie, may be anchored thereto without any liability of theanchoring means becoming loosened or,v

disarranged or in any way becoming ineffective for the purpose intended.

The tie embodying the invention consists, generally speaking, of a tiebody which is of cement or other similar material capable of beingmolded to the desired shape, and blocks of wood which are housed withinrecesses in the body and into which the rail securingv spikes may bedriven, vsubstantially in the same manner as in the case of the ordinarywood ties, and in this connection the invention has as a further objectto provide anovel arrangement of said bloclsfproviding for a firmanchorage of the spikes and consequently lfirm anchorage of the rails tothe tie, the invention further contemplating an arrange-r ment such asto permit of the ejection or driving out of the blocks, in the eventthey become y decayed after long exposure to moisture and the elements,and new blocks, at the same time,

driven into place in the recesses in the tie, so that the life of thetie body itself l may be greatly prolonged, thus'effecting an economy inthe use of the ties. l f

f wood ties.

by the arrows.

Another object of the invention is to p1ovide a tie of the classdescribed so constructed that car replacers may be readily anchoredthereon when the use of such devices essary, because of derailments.

Another object 'ofthe invention is to provide a tie of theclass referredto so constructis neced that it may be conveniently handled by 'Y theordinary r tongs employed in handling i Vhile the accompanying drawingsand the description which is to follow, constitute a V.disclosure of thepreferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood' thatvarious changes may be .made within the scope of what is claimed. y f

Inv the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is a view in elevation of a railway tie constructed inaccordance with the present invention, the view illustrating railsmounted upon the tie and spikes 'securing the rails in place; n f Figure2 is (a top planview of the tie, the rails which arey disposed thereonbeing shown in brokenlines and thespikes being similarly shown; :y .Y

' Figure 3 'isadetail vertical longitudinal. sectional view through oneend of the tie;

Figure 4 is a Yvertical'transverse'sectional viewtaken, substantially'onthe line 4 4 of Figure l, looking in the direction indicated The tieembodying the invention comprises a body l which may be of any suitablecoinposition of cement and sand, as for example forty per cent cement,forty per cent sand and twenty per cent stone,in pieces of approximatelyone-half inch insize, and, in the carrying out of the invention, thebody is molded so as to provide a pair of vertical rectangular recesses2 near each endof the body. these recesses being of uniform dimensionsfrom their upper to their lower ends'and'eirktending entirelyverticallyy through thebody. vFor a purposeto be presently yexplainedthe f body yis also formed, at Ythe time of molding,

with a pair of recesses 3 located at opposite sides of each pair ofrecesses 2, the recesses 3 being preferably equi-distantly spaced fromthe respective recesses 2 asclearly shown in Figure 2 of the drawings,After the Abody of the tie has been nioldec, substantially cubicalblocks 4 of wood are driven into the recesses 2, and these blocks arepreferably rf such dimensions that Jthey will lit with sutilcientsnugness in the respective recesses as to necessitate the application offorce in driving the same into the recesses, thus insuring of apermanent retention of the blocks within the respective recesses throughthe fricti'onal contact of their faces with the walls of the recesses.Likewise the blocks are of a height equal to the thickness of the tiebody, so that the top and bottom faces of the blocks are iiush with theupper and under sides of the tie body.

lt `will now be evident by reference to Figures l and 2 of the drawingsthat the blocks 4 at each end of the tie body are so spaced that railsdisposed upon the tie body will each rest at its base flanges upon theupper ends of blocks, the blocks being so arranged that the outermargins of the base flanges of each rail will be spaced inwardly fromthe relatively remote sides of the upper faces of the blocks with whichthey are disposed in contact, so that spikes, indicated by the referenceletter S, may be driven into the blocks to secure the rail in place. Itwill likewise be evident at this point that, Idue to the provision ofthe wood blocks 4 which are anchored by friction in the recesses 2 inthe tie body, ordinary spikes may be employed in securing the rails uponthe ties embodying the invention, as distinguished from the employmentof specially constructed securing means which has heretofore been foundnecessary'where an attempt has been made to employ concrete or cementties. It will likewise be evident that when the spikes are ldriven intothe blocks, the wood of the blocks will be to some extent expanded, sothat an even firmer contact of the faces of the blocks with the walls ofthe recesses in which they are seated, will be provided for, thuspositively insuring again st any accidental d isplacelnent of theblocks.

lWith reference to the recesses 3 which are .formed in.the tie body ateach side of each pair of recesses 2, these recesses are designed toaccommodate wood blocks 5 which do not differ from the blocks 4 exceptthat they are of oblong rectangular Jform and are disposedlongitudinally medially with respect to the tie body l, the upper andlower ends of these blocks being flush with'the upper and under sides ofthe tie body and the blocks constitutln order that the body of the tiemay be reinforced, heavy wire mesh sheets are preferably embedded in thebody at the time of molding and are preferably arranged in spacedrelation one above another in theends of the body and in the portions ofthe body intermediate relatively adjacent ones 'of the rocessesQ and 3,as clearly shown in Figures 8 and 4 of the drawings.

ln order that the tie body, embodying the invention, may be convenientlyhandled by the use of tongs as in the handlingr of wood ties, sockets 7are formed in the opposite longitudinal faces of the tie body atsuitableintervals and these socketsare designed to accomn'iodate thepointed jaws of the tongs when the tongs ure applied to the tie. y

it will be evident that, in the event the 'locks 4 or the blocks 5become partly or wholly decayed due to a long period of 'eX- posure tolthe elements and to moisture in the road bed, these blocks may bereadily replaced by disposing other new blocks directly upon the topsthereof and then forcing the new blocks into place in the recess-es,thus, at the same time, e ecting an ejection of the old blocks from therecesses.

Having thus described the invention, what l claim is:

l. A railway tie comprising a plastic body having a pair of rectangularrecesses formed vertically therein and opening through its upper andunder sides, each recess having its walls perpendicular to the pla-nesof the up per and under sides of the tie and each recess-being ofuniform dimensions from end to Vend, and blocks of wood frictionallyretained y 7ith- .in said recesses and having faces presented at theupper side of the body, the recesses and blocks being so arranged as toprovide for exposure of portions of the faces ofthe blocks beyond themargins ofthe base ianges of a rail disposed upon the body, wherebysecuring spikes may be driven into said blocks through the exposedportions of the upper faces thereof to secure the said base iianges ofsaid rail.

soi

2. A railway tie comprising a plastic body provided near each end withspaced vertically extending recesses opening' through its upper andlower sides, the recesses being of rectangular contour and having theirrelatively adjacent walls space-d apart a distance tuting means wherebyspikes may be driven into the tie to engage the base flanges ofrails g1,701,442 v v 3 disposed upon said tie above the upper ends 1yr in thebody and Opening through the upper ot the blocks. and undersidesfthereof, and blocks of wood 3. A railway tie comprising a plast-icbody seated frctionally in the said recesses and 10 having means wherebya. rali] base may be seconstituting means whereby a car replacer 5 curedthereon, the body being formed at 0p may be anchored to the'tie bodylfor use.

posite sides of said means and in spaced rela@ In testimony whereof Iaffix my signature. tion thereto with recesses extendingfverticalf NOAHF. CRABILL.`

